KEY POINTS
1. when this video was made the lower front glacis (LFG) was very thick at ~245mm. The LFG was nerfed in 9.8 to ~200mm, but that's still solid and the buff to the pikenose more than makes up for it

2. due to the weakness of the pikenose in close quarters and the incredibly soft turret roof, be aware that the IS-3 is easy-to-penetrate when face-hugging or in point-blank exchanges

3. when this video was made the lower front glacis (LFG) was very thick at ~245mm. The LFG was nerfed in 9.8 to ~200mm, but that's still solid and the buff to the pikenose more than makes up for it

4. patience in a tight situation is key. When I was surrounded on 3 sides, I stalled to buy time for our light tanks to flank the tanks in city and bail me out

5. I rushed the kill shot on the 7/1. I should have waited a quarter-second for his side hull to be exposed, given that he wasn't aiming at me

6. the T37 driver (1134eastlaw) provided a great example of the power of a light tank in endgame situations

FEEDBACK FROM VIEWERS
Many commenters disagree with me re: sidescraping. They feel that sidescraping on the IS-3 makes sense.

I can see doing that to bait shots into the side armor, so you can then expose your near-side pikenose safely while taking a free shot.

ERRATA
4:18 - what I meant here is that the IS-3 (not IS- and many tier 8 heavy tanks have very functional penetration values (e.g. 225+). There are exceptions of course, e.g. the T32 with 198

Next episode: IS-3 in a Tier 10 Battle

Let me know via the following poll which replay(s) you'd like to see after second IS-3 video:http://poll.fm/55ujk

I demonstrate how to troll big, tall, and slow turreted tanks in a Russian medium tank in World of Tanks (WoT), with footage of my T-62A facing E-100's.

This works not only in the T62A but also tanks with a low profile and solid turret, such as the Object 140 and T-54.

The key thing is to time your approach based on either when your target just fired or is facing the other direction, and to use the target as a shield to protect you from other enemy tanks while you whittle the target away.

Trololo!

Let me know via the following poll which replay(s) you'd like to see after the IS-8 video:http://poll.fm/59uu3

Hey, thank you for the videos. They're great for a medicore newbie looking to improve. Any chance you'll post videos with the other Russian medium line? (A-43 etc)

You're welcome!

Right now I'm working on the American heavy line, and I have about another 150 battles on the M103 before I unlock the E5.

Every tank from tier 5 to 9 in the E5 line has been good-to-great, and I am very eager to try the E5 because on paper, it looks like a good fit for the characteristics I value (good gun handling, good gun depression, workable armor, and good mobility).

to be clear, gun bloom is a separate concern from gun accuracy (0.36 for the Cromwell). The shot on the St Emil @1:40 missed due to inaccuracy, not gun bloom, given that I had the time to fully aim. That said, bloom elongates the time to aim

the enemy Wolverine made a critical mistake late of pushing up valley without support – he isolated himself and got bullied by our Panther. Be wary of isolating yourself unless you are confident you will win any 1v1s

per the WoT Wiki: "Once spotted, a vehicle stays lit up for a minimum duration of 5 seconds which can extend up to 10 seconds after the spotter moves out of spotting range or gets destroyed" - so 5-10 seconds, not the 6-8 I mentioned in the video

I also discuss how to safely spot hill from the north spawn, taking into account flanking fire from enemy tanks in the middle of the map (F5-F6). With the recent changes to view range, the T62A is even stronger now at vision control. The tactics in the video apply to the Fiery Salient variant of the same map.

I review the T29, a tier 7 American heavy tank, with a replay of a tier 8 Erlenberg battle.

Stat line: Ace Tanker, 4.1k damage, 4 kills

With its awesome hull-down capability, the T29 is one of the strongest heavies at-tier in the game. I found it to be very comfortable to play and enjoyed driving it. On paper the HP (1250) seems low, but the hull-down capability makes that a non-issue.

In this battle, we have to overcome two notable issues:
1. the other team is stacked with tanks that can hull-down effectively, which is critical for the fighting in the northwest corner of this map
2. over half of my team is camping east or pushing south, leaving us thin northwest

For meaningful stretches of the battle, I'm able to hold my ground against multiple enemy tanks by using terrain and playing hull-down, and this enables us to overcome being outnumbered northwest.

Strengths and Weaknesses
+ one of the strongest turrets at-tier in the game
+ superb max gun depression (-10)
+ excellent aim time (2.3 sec)
+ excellent gold round (ACPR with 245mm pen)
+ good front hull armor, which can be further protected with hull angling
+ good speed
- lackluster silver penetration (198)
- neck area beneath the turret is very soft (80mm)
- slow reverse speed, which can be problematic versus arty